Need Advice and Support - Weight Loss/Life/Relationship Struggles
Live0rDieTrying
Posts: 17 Member
If this kind of topic isn't allowed, please let me know.
I'm really struggling with my weight loss and just my life in general. A bit of background info... I'm 28, very overweight (5'8", 350 lbs) and had a difficult childhood (abuse, both physical & psychological) until I was 19 when I had enough funds to move out of my abusive parent's house and live on my own. I met my now husband at that time online. We met when I was 20, and really hit it off. We shared a lot of interests, and it was really fun being around him and we felt a mutual connection through our issues in our pasts.
Shortly after we moved in together (probably a year later), things were pretty great, although he drank too much for my liking (although I tried to keep up on more than one occasion). Every time he drank it seemed, I was having to make sure he was OK during the night since he seemed to get blackout drunk and would just pass out.
Sure, I'd get frustrated with it after a while because, who honestly wouldn't, and had gently suggested that he cut back just a little since it worried me. I think after that, somehow he got it in his head that I wanted him to quit drinking altogether, and would berate me for small annoyances in our relationship, going so far as to treat me poorly with name calling and saying he understood why my abusive parent hated me (things like: I'm a sh** stirrer, I like to b**** him out for things, etc). I hate nagging, and I keep it to a minimum, as I find it is much easier to do things myself. It was after that point that he stopped wanting to do as much with me, to the point where we rarely went on any dates (he considered taking a shopping trip to the grocery store a date, which was probably once a month), we stopped going to family functions for his family since he didn't want to, and it was mainly going to work and going home.
I decided to ask him once if he just didn't like being seen with me in public because we were such an "odd" looking couple (he's an average body type 160 ish lbs, and a couple inches shorter than me, so you can imagine how that looks...). He denied it and just say that he didn't like going anywhere because he was always tired from work. We both worked in similar industries and neither of us really worked harder than the other, so for me to have the energy to want to go and do things (even just to take a walk down the road or at the park), and he didn't have energy... it just didn't add up to me.
I had lost a considerable amount of weight a few years back. I'd gone from 320 lbs to about 269 in the span of half a year which I was incredibly proud of, and I was going to the gym about 4 times a week (almost religiously), and just eating better and feeling better about myself. But it seemed every time I went, he made a big deal out of it and said he missed me and he'd be bored without me there. I'd always offer to take him with me since we can take a guest at the gym I'm a member of, but he said he was always too tired. But he'd ask me from time to time if I was losing weight just so I could find someone else and leave him, and honestly it made me really upset. I always told him I was doing it so I could feel better about myself and have more energy to just have an easier time of getting around from point a to b (and a cuter wardrobe wasn't bad, either).
But after the abusive parent who had relentlessly tortured me about my weight problem since I was 9 passed away, on the very day I was to call them and tell them how I'd finally lost 50 lbs and was feeling better (mainly to tell them that I did what they said I couldn't), I just felt deflated, and lost my will to continue. I felt that all that time, hatred was really spurring me on to do my best to shove it in their face. So with that came a new job which was considerably more sedentary than I'd been used to, and I packed on the weight again in my depression and anxiety.
Fast forward to now, it's been about 2 years since we've been married (we've been together for about 9 years), and I haven't lost much weight, but I have found other things to keep me entertained since my husband doesn't do much with me at all. He's going to school online full time and working full time, but any free time he has, he spends it playing games on his computer, or weekends with his friends or going to see family by himself. I don't get invited anywhere anymore, so I feel like to him I've just been tucked away in a corner. We go to bed together at night and he always texts me (DAILY) that he misses me and can't wait to see me, but I just feel like an object that is just forgotten unless he's bored and wants to interact with it.
I've been going to the gym the past couple months, but I'm losing my motivation to want to continue (my brain keeps asking, 'what for?'). I still feel like I get no attention from him because of the way I look and how heavy I am, but he says he loves me and loves spending time with me, but his actions prove otherwise.
Am I just being a female and overthinking a situation that I know I should be able to control (just do the thing, work out, get swole, eat better), and just hope that he wants to spend more time with me if I look like a normal person? I feel as though I owe it to him to get fit and lose weight so he can feel proud of me or something, but I'm also very angry about it. It's almost a slap in the face to think how I'd be if I lost all this weight and became more fit, and he did want to be seen in public with me all of a sudden. Like, I wasn't a good enough person at my lowest point, but he'd be reaping the benefits of me at a higher point.
So if anyone has some advice or even any stories to share of your own experiences, please let me know. And if anyone is willing to walk with me on my journey (since I have 0 support at home), please shoot me a message or a friend request. I need all the help I can get. And thank you for taking the time to read through this awfully long story.
I'm really struggling with my weight loss and just my life in general. A bit of background info... I'm 28, very overweight (5'8", 350 lbs) and had a difficult childhood (abuse, both physical & psychological) until I was 19 when I had enough funds to move out of my abusive parent's house and live on my own. I met my now husband at that time online. We met when I was 20, and really hit it off. We shared a lot of interests, and it was really fun being around him and we felt a mutual connection through our issues in our pasts.
Shortly after we moved in together (probably a year later), things were pretty great, although he drank too much for my liking (although I tried to keep up on more than one occasion). Every time he drank it seemed, I was having to make sure he was OK during the night since he seemed to get blackout drunk and would just pass out.
Sure, I'd get frustrated with it after a while because, who honestly wouldn't, and had gently suggested that he cut back just a little since it worried me. I think after that, somehow he got it in his head that I wanted him to quit drinking altogether, and would berate me for small annoyances in our relationship, going so far as to treat me poorly with name calling and saying he understood why my abusive parent hated me (things like: I'm a sh** stirrer, I like to b**** him out for things, etc). I hate nagging, and I keep it to a minimum, as I find it is much easier to do things myself. It was after that point that he stopped wanting to do as much with me, to the point where we rarely went on any dates (he considered taking a shopping trip to the grocery store a date, which was probably once a month), we stopped going to family functions for his family since he didn't want to, and it was mainly going to work and going home.
I decided to ask him once if he just didn't like being seen with me in public because we were such an "odd" looking couple (he's an average body type 160 ish lbs, and a couple inches shorter than me, so you can imagine how that looks...). He denied it and just say that he didn't like going anywhere because he was always tired from work. We both worked in similar industries and neither of us really worked harder than the other, so for me to have the energy to want to go and do things (even just to take a walk down the road or at the park), and he didn't have energy... it just didn't add up to me.
I had lost a considerable amount of weight a few years back. I'd gone from 320 lbs to about 269 in the span of half a year which I was incredibly proud of, and I was going to the gym about 4 times a week (almost religiously), and just eating better and feeling better about myself. But it seemed every time I went, he made a big deal out of it and said he missed me and he'd be bored without me there. I'd always offer to take him with me since we can take a guest at the gym I'm a member of, but he said he was always too tired. But he'd ask me from time to time if I was losing weight just so I could find someone else and leave him, and honestly it made me really upset. I always told him I was doing it so I could feel better about myself and have more energy to just have an easier time of getting around from point a to b (and a cuter wardrobe wasn't bad, either).
But after the abusive parent who had relentlessly tortured me about my weight problem since I was 9 passed away, on the very day I was to call them and tell them how I'd finally lost 50 lbs and was feeling better (mainly to tell them that I did what they said I couldn't), I just felt deflated, and lost my will to continue. I felt that all that time, hatred was really spurring me on to do my best to shove it in their face. So with that came a new job which was considerably more sedentary than I'd been used to, and I packed on the weight again in my depression and anxiety.
Fast forward to now, it's been about 2 years since we've been married (we've been together for about 9 years), and I haven't lost much weight, but I have found other things to keep me entertained since my husband doesn't do much with me at all. He's going to school online full time and working full time, but any free time he has, he spends it playing games on his computer, or weekends with his friends or going to see family by himself. I don't get invited anywhere anymore, so I feel like to him I've just been tucked away in a corner. We go to bed together at night and he always texts me (DAILY) that he misses me and can't wait to see me, but I just feel like an object that is just forgotten unless he's bored and wants to interact with it.
I've been going to the gym the past couple months, but I'm losing my motivation to want to continue (my brain keeps asking, 'what for?'). I still feel like I get no attention from him because of the way I look and how heavy I am, but he says he loves me and loves spending time with me, but his actions prove otherwise.
Am I just being a female and overthinking a situation that I know I should be able to control (just do the thing, work out, get swole, eat better), and just hope that he wants to spend more time with me if I look like a normal person? I feel as though I owe it to him to get fit and lose weight so he can feel proud of me or something, but I'm also very angry about it. It's almost a slap in the face to think how I'd be if I lost all this weight and became more fit, and he did want to be seen in public with me all of a sudden. Like, I wasn't a good enough person at my lowest point, but he'd be reaping the benefits of me at a higher point.
So if anyone has some advice or even any stories to share of your own experiences, please let me know. And if anyone is willing to walk with me on my journey (since I have 0 support at home), please shoot me a message or a friend request. I need all the help I can get. And thank you for taking the time to read through this awfully long story.
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Replies
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Aww girl! That sounds like a very unhealthy relationship to me & I wanna say you should leave him but that's just from the glimpse you've given us. So I'm not sure what to say about that atm. BUT I will say that you should do this for YOU & no one else!!! Just to be healthier & feel better about yourself.
Maybe once you're in a better place mentally and physically you can take a step back and analyze your life & what you want out of it & decide if this relationship is what you need or benefitting you at all. Cuz if it's not & it's as bad as I initially thought, you'll be stronger & know what you need. If that made sense lol
But please take care of yourself first and do this for you & not for anyone else even if their your husband!!2 -
Those are tactics of emotional abuse. Controlling you with things like "I miss you when you are gone, are you losing to leave me". Trying to keep someone uncomfortable, overweight low self esteem etc, is all controlling behavior. As a chick who stayed in an emotionally abusive relationship for 15 years because it wasn't "abusive" and I loved him and he needed me blah blah blah you have to stop that. I don't know that it always means you have to divorce them and get away but it does mean you have to get a backbone and say no more. Being healthy is for you. If your relationship reaps the benefits of it great but if not it can't stop you from pursuing your best life. Think about real love. It encourages and supports, motivates and cherishes. None of the behaviors you have described are part of that. It is possible your husband is just a broken person, we all are to some extent, and doesn't recognize what he is doing or how his actions harm you. In which case get some counseling get strong in who you are and fix your marriage. It is also possible that he is not gonna be willing to grow with you and that is always disappointing but can't make you decide to quit growing and be stagnant with him. Sorry for the book0
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I ageee with Ivo any changes you make should be for YOU and what's best for you and any other benefits are just extra. You do not owe it to your hubby to get fit. You have the right to be angry, any man should support his wife unconditionally because that is what love is. I can tell you without a doubt in my mind I would love my wife as much as I do now and want to spend time with her and do things together if she was 200 or more pounds heavier. You have the right to be happy, ultimately only you can decide what those things are, and your real friends and loved ones will help you to achieve those things. I sent you a friend request and would be happy to help you in any way I can.0
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I agree with all the advice to do it for you. You are stronger than you know, you have already survived a difficult childhood. The rest of your life is yours. Find joy peace and the personal satisfaction of better physical and emotional health and well being. Look how many here support you on this post. Good luck and keep in touch with us. We are pulling for you!0
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This reminds me of my ex way too much...and he was very abusive.0
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I don't want to be discouraging. I understand you are hurt and you struggle. But it sounds all very passive for me. You watch it and you expect others to change what happens.
What about, if he texts you he misses you answer with 'I miss you too. Let's have a nice dinner/a romantic walk in the park/a movie night/... together tonight, so we can cuddle and coo over each other.'
What about you ask if you can come along if he visits family. It might be he thinks you don't like to.
Also generally, love changes. With time, it is not unusual to each having their own hobbies. But it is somewhat about missing each other during a long work day (because there is this person you just want to come home to), having dinner together and fall asleep next to each other. Because it goes from butterflies and sparkles to just feeling at home with that other person. I don't stay home the whole day, either. I don't think about how awesome home is when at home most of the time. But deep in my heart it is what I would miss. (Unfortunately I am in a long distance relationship, so home-home does not exist as in a home to get home where my partner is. But I would love to have it that way.)0 -
You're in an abusive relationship, I hope you can see that. Your options are basically 1) get therapy, both couples and individual (for him too) and see if things improve; 2) leave; or 3) continue to be miserable and hope his emotional abuse doesn't escalate to physical.
As for health and weight loss, do it for you.0 -
Go to counseling/therapy to work on your issues past and present.
From now on weight loss is separate. Weight loss is a set of problem solving skills applied over and over again. Lots of benefits from going to the gym but WL is mostly about intake.
Start a food journal. Record everything you eat and drink, especially mistakes and lapses. Anyone can record their good days. You're going to record every day. Plan a menu. Weigh and measure your food.
Motivation is overrated. It's too fleeting for the long term. Establish good habits. Summon some determination. Try not to rely too much on willpower. Plan your way around it.
If your husband comments on what your doing, make some sort of meaningless response and keep going. Pay him no mind. Work with your counselor to find a long term answer.
You don't have to solve your life to lose weight. Concentrating on WL may provide you with some distraction. Losing weight may get you some relief.
We only get one life. You are worthy of deciding how you want to live to the extent you can control it. But if you want a different life, you have to make it. You can do this. Weight loss is liberation.0 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »You're in an abusive relationship, I hope you can see that. Your options are basically 1) get therapy, both couples and individual (for him too) and see if things improve; 2) leave; or 3) continue to be miserable and hope his emotional abuse doesn't escalate to physical.
As for health and weight loss, do it for you.
This sounds about right to me from the side of the situation you have given. Make your choice.0
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